My playgroup has suggested a new way of deck building for EDH. We want to build decks with a total value of 100 dollars or less. Basic lands and non Basic lands which only tap for one mana per activation do not count towards the cost, but filter lands, man lands etc. will. Have any of you done anything lie this and what do you think of it as a way to spice up the play a little bit.

The general consensus at the end of the thread is $40 is just too low unless you start putting in nonsense cards which you'll be incredibly disappointed to have to play. $100 would be a lot easier requirement to reach, but I don't know how much it inherently helps deck building. Ramp and counter spells get slightly stronger in that sort of format due to their being cheap to buy in almost all cases (only the very best counter spells have any noticeable cost, and ramp spells are always monetarily cheap).

So the question is: what does your playgroup hope to accomplish by setting this cap?

Basically what we would like is to have a way to play without sitting down t the same OP decks all the time. Since the spirit of EDH is casual to begin with, we wanted to do something to continue in that lane but try to reduce the infinite combo style decks which dominate our area. The 100 dollar cap seems (to us) to be a nice round number to shoot for. One of our guys has already built one, bot we haven't done any play yet. If would almost seem like the cap would act and a fluctuating ban list because you know that if you go over the 100 cap, then you have to restructure you deck a little. I think it keeps up thinking about changing this deck around periodically instead of just waiting for the same turn four lock over and over.

we wanted to do something to continue in that lane but try to reduce the infinite combo style decks which dominate our area.

It will slow things down because people won't be able to afford quite as much fast mana (Grim Monolith and Mana Crypt particularly), but if people in your meta are playing that way, $100 isn't going to cut down on infinite combos. I think that only Grim Tutor and Imperial Seal are pushed completely out of price range by a $100 cap, and Vampiric Tutor ends up eating a fairly large portion of your budget.

If you've got a group that is just looking to power down a little bit, you're probably better off just negotiating an arms reduction treaty rather than trying to come up with a budgetary restriction. If infinite combos and fast lockouts are the problem, you can probably deal with a lot of the problem through the twin policies of "nothing that tutors for nonland cards" and "nothing that ramps more than it costs." You may need to toss a few additional specific card bans in there, but those two policies really take the teeth out of most decks that are looking to combo fast and hard.

The simplest combo is probably Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion which is only about $8 for the pair.

There are infinite mana combos that cost less than a dollar. Add in $2 for Oona as your general and you can sweep the table.

Budget is a good way to limit Goodstuff. It's not very good at stopping Combo though. (It might lower the consistency or change the combos, but it can't stop people from killing you with a $4 Hellkite Charger + Bear Umbra.)

The simplest combo is probably Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion which is only about $8 for the pair.

There are infinite mana combos that cost less than a dollar. Add in $2 for Oona as your general and you can sweep the table.

I went for Mike & Trike there because you can always start with Mike in the command zone and still have access to most tutors. You're right that it is just one example, though. There are tons of combo options without even coming close to a $100 price cap.

The best approach to get what you are looking for is to sit down with your entire group at one time and actually talk about what each of you want from commander. To get away from the arms race mentality and step back from the cut throat decks requires good faith that everyone is both interested and willing, and the whole group is on board to the same degree.

Any attempt to artificially restrict or limit the direction your group has gone through banning cards or groups of cards will just SLOW DOWN the cut throat games, but they will still in the end be the same. You can try artificial constraints like no tutors, no infinite combos, or what have you, but without the conversation and genuine understanding and agreement from it, you will not find a change.